The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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NEW YORK, Sunday —When I was in Japan I visited the International Christian University in Tokyo, which was opened on April 13, 1953. Thousands of Americans contributed over $2,500,000 to start this first graduate school under Christian auspices in Japan. The Japanese people had contributed $450,000, with the Emperor and other members of the royal family included among the donors.

Of course, it is so new that much still remains to be done, and this was quite evident when I was there. The university campus includes 365 acres, and a large university hall and several other buildings are already up. They have a 34-member faculty, and this year the freshman class numbers 150 students. I do not know how many American communities are actually working for this university, but I was interested to be told that book campaigns for its library had been started in many American communities. Rural communities were contributing cattle and farm equipment, and in other areas money was raised to build faculty houses and to pay for scholarships.

The idea for this university has the backing of our former ambassador, Joseph P. Grew, and they are very fortunate in their president, Hachiro Yuasa. He was able to assemble a truly international faculty, with 18 Japanese, two Canadians and 11 Americans. They are particularly proud of having the Swiss theologian, Dr. Emil Brunner, as professor of religion. Many religious denominations in this country and Canada are interested in the support of this university. Many of the young people there seemed among the most intelligent and alert group of students that I had met anywhere.

I don't recall whether I mentioned before that a school to train librarians has been established in Keio University in Tokyo. This is functioning very satisfactorily, and will bring a new group to work in many universities where books have often lain buried in the archives because of lack of trained librarians.

When I was in Hiroshima I was shown an appeal sent out by the university there, asking universities in this country for books to reestablish their library. I hope they will get many contributions, but I can only say that without librarians these contributions would not be of great value.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, September 8, 1953

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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